'Filth' maps row embroils Google Earth in Japan

Google has been accused of perpetuating Japan's social divisions by publishing ancient maps that identify districts as home to "filth."

A feudal map of a village in central Japan from hundreds of years ago, superimposed on a modern street mapPhoto: GOOGLR EARTH/AP

By Julian Ryall in Tokyo

9:50AM BST 22 May 2009

Representatives of the country's untouchable caste have taken Google to task for using maps that date back to the feudal era on its Google Earth service.

Inhabitants of certain districts, of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, were known as burakumin, or "unclean" centuries ago. They had jobs working as grave-diggers, butchers or leather workers. Google has incorporated antique maps into its service, showing streets and districts from the 17th century that are identified as "filth town."

Old prejudices remain even though the ghettoes are now part of the modern city and burukamin descendants are no longer required to live within the same district,

Some companies still carry out background checks on job applicants to determine whether they are from burakumin families, while similar services are available for people who want to find out whether their partner is similarly stigmatised before they propose marriage.

There are an estimated 3 million descendents of burakumin among the 127 million Japanese.

Google Earth maps used old maps, based on woodblock prints, to identify traditional burakumin neighbourhoods, labelling some as "eta," a derogatory term.

"If there is an incident because of these maps, and Google is just going to say 'it's not our fault' or 'it's down to the user,' then we have no choice but to conclude that Google's system itself is a form of prejudice," Toru Matsuoka, a member of the Diet and himself a descendant of burakumin, said.

Mr Matsuoka, who is also secretary general of the Buraku Liberation League, has raised the issue with the Justice Ministry. Within two weeks, the references to the burakumin ghettoes had been erased - which has in turn provoked criticism that the burakumin are being erased from public consciousness here.